THE ADMINISTRATION: Instituting a War

Before an audience of 100,000 in
Boston last week, Navy Secretary Francis Matthews put himself out on a
long, shaky limb. He did it deliberately.

Francis Patrick Matthews, who had made no splash in 15 months in office,
is a mild-looking and prosperous Omaha lawyer, a good Democrat, a
prominent Roman Catholic layman (a Papal Chamberlain with Cape and
Sword), and a dedicated and fervent antiCommunist. One of the things
he is not is a military strategist (he admitted, when he became
Secretary, that his knowledge of naval affairs was confined to...